U.S. to seek death penalty for alleged kidnapper of Chinese scholar

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it intends to seek the death penalty for an Illinois man who was charged last year with kidnapping a visiting Chinese scholar.

Brendt Christensen was indicted in June in connection with the kidnapping of Yingying Zhang, a scholar in photosynthesis and crop productivity who came to the University of Illinois from China last year.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Zhang's kidnapping resulted in her death, and because of that "a sentence of death is justified." (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Tom Brown)